Leading environmental organizations & community groups call for the National Energy Board to consider the upstream climate impacts of the pipeline.

Montreal, QC – Today, over 60 environmental and community groups from across Canada sent a letter to Peter Watson, head of the National Energy Board, demanding that the NEB include climate change in its review of the Energy East project. This letter comes on addition to 60,000 messages sent from people all across Canada to the NEB calling for a climate review.

“The best scientific minds on the planet are telling us that we need to rapidly transition off of fossil fuels to address climate change, and Energy East would be a step in the exact opposite direction,” says Patrick Bonin, Climate & Energy campaigner with Greenpeace Canada. “Without considering the upstream climate impacts of Energy East, the NEB’s review will be incomplete and illegitimate.”

The Energy East project would release 30 to 32 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, the same as adding seven million cars to Canada’s roads. This is more than any single Atlantic province, and bigger than the emissions saved in Ontario’s entire coal phase out. In comparison, the Keystone XL pipeline, which now faces a climate test from U.S. President Barack Obama, would increase emissions by 22 million tonnes.

“If we can’t talk about tar sands expansion and climate change at the NEB, where can we?” says Andrea Harden-Donahue, Energy and Climate Justice Campaigner. “Pipeline infrastructure is nearing capacity in Alberta. Adding 1.1 million barrels every day, Energy East will absolutely spur tar sands expansion and significant carbon pollution.”

In late November, the NEB’s refusal to consider the climate change impacts of tar sands pipelines came under even more intense criticism as over 100 people were arrested on Burnaby Mountain. Many of those arrested protesting the proposed Trans-Mountain project cited climate change, and that the NEB had refused to hear climate concerns, as the reason for their actions.

“The tar sands are Canada’s fastest growing source of emissions, and building projects like Energy East will only make that worse,” says Catherine Abreu, Energy Coordinator with the Ecology Action Center. “If Canada is going to be a part of the solution when it comes to climate change, we need to apply a climate test to projects like Energy East, and reject them if they will make climate change worse.”

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